Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: John Ames Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc Subject: Re: Warning - Serious 'sudo' Flaw Compromises Security Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2025 08:39:26 -0700 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 22 Message-ID: <20251015083926.0000473b@gmail.com> References: <10cdluk$pc59$2@dont-email.me> <1NucnW53DZrMOHH1nZ2dnZfqnPGdnZ2d@giganews.com> <10cihiq$23kb8$6@dont-email.me> <10cios3$25sim$2@dont-email.me> <10cj667$29n96$5@dont-email.me> <10cjf5m$2cnh5$2@dont-email.me> <20251013114536.00000ae5@gmail.com> <10cmkub$39hde$3@dont-email.me> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Injection-Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2025 15:39:30 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="9cd691b0dfb46c0c45944ca2963f1ca5"; logging-data="3917193"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18AKG/HLEXZua5MfL+7P8HdFHYQ3XpjoTo=" Cancel-Lock: sha1:qEo62tW+0M7PJCVHcEVXiC7zGAU= X-Newsreader: Claws Mail 4.3.0 (GTK 3.24.42; x86_64-w64-mingw32) Xref: csiph.com comp.os.linux.misc:76199 On Tue, 14 Oct 2025 23:04:43 -0000 (UTC) Lawrence D=E2=80=99Oliveiro wrote: > > It definitely has its uses, but CS courses almost never seem to > > focus on the *useful* applications because it's much easier to > > demonstrate the concept with trivial examples like Fibonacci > > calculation, which is dead easy to write but *atrocious* in terms > > of performance scaling :/ =20 >=20 > My first exposure to recursion was not Fibonacci, but Ackermann=E2=80=99s= =20 > function. >=20 > Feel free to try to come up with a non-recursive implementation of=20 > that. ;) That's definitely a better example, though for classroom purposes it'd probably be best to find something with both *A.* practical application in a real-world context (Ackermann *does* have uses, but they're pretty deep in mathematics) and *B.* a real case to be made for a recursive solution beyond simple novelty value.